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(1) Elections are strange creatures. Quick reflection on why:
(2) You vote, and momentarily feel connected to all those casting their votes in the same polling booths, of the same district or country, all united in the act of choosing political representatives, each of us worth one ballot - no more or less.
(3) You receive election results (preferences & all), sometimes surprising sometimes not, and feel either part of the same team or disconnected from those who voted differently.
(4) Maybe they had another favourite MP or voted for a party with a completely different political ideology than your own. Or maybe you empathise completely with how many in your district voted, and their reasons are very apparent.
(5) Whichever it is - you now will try to understand how others are different to you or feel solidarity with them because they too have felt similarly let down or lifted up by those they did or did not vote for...
(6) In the act of interpreting the votes of others, we’re hopefully processing things about those who share the same space as we do. Who are the people that voted this way or that? What do they care about? What are their political & economic aspirations?
(7) Whatever it’s results, an election takes you from connection to disconnection and, hopefully, back again. It’s a beautiful experience. It’s one of the ways in which democracies keep us engaged with and in communication with each other.
(8) It’s for this reason, among others, that we need to protect and defend our democracy.
